Earlier today, in Day 2 of the IIHF World Championships, there were six games on the schedule.
Steel Arena (Košice):
Denmark 5, France 4 (SO)
Germany 3, Great Britain 1
Slovakia 4, Finland 2
Ondrej Nepela Arena (Bratislava):
Switzerland 9, Italy 0
Latvia 5, Austria 2
Czech Republic 7, Norway 2
To start off in Group A action earlier today, the games taking place in Košice, Denmark would defeat France in a shootout with a 5-4 win.
Denmark’s Frederik Storm would have a three-point performance, including the game-winner in the shootout frame to give Denmark their first win in the tournament. Denmark would come back from a two goal deficit midway through the second period to get the win. There would be a lot of back and forth action throughout the contest and for team Denmark, Lars Eller would score a goal in the contest as well as a goal in the shootout frame.
Denmark will look to win their second game in the tournament when they face off against Germany tomorrow and the French team will look to get their first win when they face off against the United States squad, coming off a 4-1 loss to the host Slovakian team, tomorrow.
In the second game from Košice, Germany would go on to defeat the Great Britain squad with a 3-1 win.
This game would mark the first time that the Britain squad would be in the top tier since 1994, however things would stay the same as they would fall. The last time Great Britain got a win in the top tier at the IIHF Worlds was back in 1962 with a 7-5 win over Finland.
For the contest, Moritz Seider, Yasin Ehliz, and Leon Draisaitl would net goals for the German team and the lone goal for Great Britain would come from Mike Hammond.
Next up for the German team is Denmark when these two teams face off and Great Britain takes on Canada tomorrow.
In the final contest in Košice for the day, Finland would move to 2-0-0-0 in the tournament with a 4-2 win over the host Slovakian team.
The story thus far two days into the tournament is Kaapo Kakko. Kakko thus far has recorded five goals in two games, three alone in today’s contest. Although he has had two of his five on empty-netters, the other two have been fantastic goals. There would be a high energy coming all contest long from both sides.
Finland looks to notch their third win in the tournament on Monday when they face off against a United States squad, who faces off tomorrow against France.
The host Slovakian team faces off against Team Canada, who faces off against Great Britain tomorrow, on Monday.
Upcoming games from Košice:
Sunday, May 12:
United States v. France
Denmark v. Germany
Great Britain v. Canada
Monday, May 13:
United States v. Finland
Slovakia v. Canada
In action from Bratislava, the Switzerland team would demolish the team from Italy with a 9-0 win.
In the contest, the Switzerland team would jump out to a 4-0 lead by the end of the first period. Kevin Fiala would net a hat trick with Nico Hischier having a three point game of his own with one goal and two assists.
Throughout the contest, the Italian team never had a chance as they would be outplayed on all aspects of the ice.
Switzerland would go on to have a 61 shots on goal performance whereas the Italian squad would only have 19 shots on goal.
Italy would have 4 penalties called on them and the Swiss team only had one penalty.
Switzerland faces off against the Latvian squad and Italy faces off against Sweden. Both of those contests take place tomorrow in Bratislava.
In the second contest from Bratislava, the Latvian squad would pull away from Austria with a 5-2 win.
The contest would be close for the first two periods before Latvia would put on a scoring and overall performance clinic in the third period. Latvia would score three goals in the span of eight minutes to give Latvia the 4-1 advantage. Latvia’s Lauris Darzins would score what would be the eventual game winner.
Next up for both teams is Latvia taking on Switzerland and Austria facing Russia. Both of those contests take place tomorrow.
In the final contest for the day from Bratislava, Czech Republic would crush the Norwegian squad with a 7-2 win.
The Czech team would have two goals and an assist each from Filip Hronek and Michael Frolik as they would take down Norway. Dominik Kubalik would have a three point performance of his own with a goal and two assists in the contest.
Norway would be scratching and clawing to find their way to get in the contest all game long but there would be no answers.
Norway will face Sweden on Monday and the Czech Republic team will face off against Russia on Monday.
Upcoming games in Bratislava:
Sunday, May 12:
Russia v. Austria
Italy v. Sweden
Latvia v. Switzerland
Monday, May 13:
Russia v. Czech Republic
Norway v. Sweden
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